The Plan (Nisekoi Fanfiction)

Part Nine - Ruri's Day Off

In general, Miyamoto Ruri was expressionless. It was not that she did not have emotions; Ruri felt happiness, sadness, irritation, and sometimes even an almost god-like disdain for certain individuals. It was simply that she did not find many reasons to linger on them. If there was no reason for her to be happy, then there was no need for her to seem happy. If there was no reason for her to be depressed, then there was no need for her to seem depressed.

Perhaps Miyamoto Ruri, while certainly having emotions, did not understand them very well. She could not understand what made her best friend, Onodera Kosaki, hold such affection for Ichijou Raku. She also could not understand why they could not see what she saw, an aura of mutual feelings that poked clumsily at one another and missed every single time.

It was all supposed to be love. She knew that. She knew what it looked like. Tachibana Marika professed it every single moment she saw that beansprout boy. And even though she may not have completely connected the dots, Miyamoto Ruri had noticed the softening stance of Tsugumi Seishirou and the fake relationship that did not seem so fake anymore with Kirisaki Chitoge.

She knew what love was. But she could not understand it. She could not understand why these people were so roundabout, why they couldn't muster a single instant of courage to grab what they desired most in the world. What was stopping them? Nothing. What was blinding them? Nothing.

But they all did it. These feelings were running rampant in the air, but they could not seem to meet. It was as if they were separated not by location, but dimensions.

As a result, Miyamoto Ruri did not understand why she felt a pang in her chest, for just a split second. An ache that both hurt and felt good. It was a feeling that she was so unfamiliar with that it was overwhelmed. It vanished underneath the more familiar feelings that arose whenever this person showed up.

"Ruri-chan~!"

A look of intense disgust. Miyamoto Ruri could have wilted flowers with that sort of expression. It appeared automatically on her face, so quickly that it was as if her facial muscles had been born to flex this way.

Maiko Shu.

A person that could easily be called scum of the Earth. A fanciful pervert with too much freedom in his free-spiritedness. He was someone that irritated Ruri simply by being in her presence. Lately, that irritation seemed to have doubled in intensity.

So Ruri did not even answer back. She completely ignored Maiko Shu and continued making her way through the shopping district. It was a rare day off and she had decided to look at some new frames for her glasses, which were starting to have loose hinges. Although Kosaki had offered to come with her, Ruri knew that she wouldn't be able to. After all, she had made a call just the night before to Ichijou Raku and told him that Kosaki needed his help again at the store. Yes, perhaps this was a little sly, but if Kosaki had free time then why not use that in a productive way?

"Ara~ Ruri-chan! Perhaps you didn't hear me? It's me, your friend who is bonded to you through the power of glasses, Maiko Shu!"

A vein throbbed in Ruri's temple.

Ignore him. If you answer, you'll only get caught up in his pace, thought Ruri, trying to calm down. She increased the pace of her walking and tried to put distance between her and Shu. The aching in her heart was more apparent now. Or rather, it was no longer an ache, but a very strange feeling.

Guilt? No, not that. Shame? No, what would she be ashamed of right now? No, it was a feeling that she rarely felt. But its potency could not be misidentified.

Embarrassment?

She was feeling embarrassed? Why?

No, no. That wasn't the problem here. The problem was why she even considered that to be a valid question. Of course she would feel embarrassed. This damn pervert was following her and yelling her name all through the shopping district. It was only natural that she'd feel this way. That was it. Nothing more.